[Diffuse stomach cancer in the minor form of familial adenomatosis coli. Correlation or coincidence?].

We report about a 66-year-old female patient with Gardner syndrome, a special form of familial adenomatosis coli, and a stomach carcinoma occurring at the same time. Recently, there have been more reports about duodenal carcinomas and stomach polyps in intestinal adenomatosis due to an improvement in diagnostic methods. The concomitant occurrence of a stomach carcinoma is, however, a very rare finding. So far, altogether 10 case histories have been published world-wide. The case presented here and a review of the literature again lend current interest to the hypothesis formulated by Amman in 1976 according to which the occurrence of a stomach carcinoma in connection with a Gardner syndrome/familial adenomatosis coli, particular in the minor form of this entity (recessive hereditary course, less than 100 polyps in the intestines, occurrence of polyps in old age) must be regarded as an additional characteristic of this disease. On the basis of this hypothesis, all adenomatosis patients should undergo gastroscopy.